But She Beat My High Score
by The Queen of Double Standards
Summary: Piko is set to put his past behind him, to lay the joystick down, and to start his life anew with a beautiful girl named Iroha, a new waitress at his favourite maid café. However, these feelings may be short-lived. Oneshot.


**Author's Note: For StrawxCherries :)**

**But She Beat My High Score**

_And there's a flame, there's a spark  
__But she beat my high score  
__So say goodbye, there's the door  
__I can't see you anymore_

-But She Beat My High Score by Say Hi to Your Mom

"Welcome home, Master."

Piko couldn't help the thrill of excitement that ran through his body each and every time he heard the girls at his favourite café say that to him. No matter how often he came here, it still gave him that same joy to hear the girls clad in their maid outfits refer to him with such adoration and familiarity. For just a moment, he could pretend that they were really all his, that they truly all awaited his next visit. He could believe for just one moment that he was their master, especially his favourite, the one who took the role of a tsundere.

"I'd like to sit in Neru's section today, please," he requested of another favourite of his. She smiled sweetly at him, and his heart stuttered so unsteadily at her beautiful innocence. Perhaps he'd sit in her section today, instead.

"My deepest apologies, big brother," the young-looking girl named Yuki apologized, bowing lightly to him. "Neru is currently training our newest maid. I could seat you in Iroha's section, if you'd like."

As Piko didn't recognize the name, he knew that had to be the new waitress. He'd have to become accustomed to the newbie eventually, anyway, so he might as well get a head start while his Neru was with her. So, he agreed to the offering and followed Yuki as she led him to the back section, all the while chirping replies to any of the customers that spoke to her on her way. Finally, she seated him and wished him well before heading back to the front of the café. Piko sat there uncomfortably for a moment before pulling his PS Vita out of his bag. He always felt more comfortable with some sort of game in his hand.

"Hello, Meowster. How may I be of service to you today?"

When Piko looked up from his game, he was frozen stiff. There she stood, gazing at him with a sweetness unlike his other maids. Her large, robotic, fluffy white cat ears waggled excitedly along with the tail she'd woven through the back of her maid outfit. She held a sort of sincerity he'd never before felt in the waitresses of other cafés, and his heart started racing so strongly. He wanted to get closer to her, so he gazed into her eyes and tried figuring out how to set off the flags to reach her good ending. She gazed at him curiously, her cat ears twitching. He barely heard her as she wondered, "Meowster?"

Before he knew what he was doing, he was pointing at the menu. She looked at it curiously and questioned, "Is that what you'd like, Meowster?" He shook his head violently, hating himself for being so unable to speak to this new waitress. "I see." And she went silent, casting a glance back to Neru for support, but the other girl just shrugged, disinterested, so Iroha looked back to Piko. "What would you like to order, Meowster?"

"Pea soup," he managed to spit out, but the thought was incomplete. As she nodded and jotted this down on the notepad, he stared at the table and managed to choke out, "Your eyes are the colour of pea soup!"

Both Neru and Iroha were staring at him then, blinking confusedly, and Piko felt himself burning up in shame.

. . .

Piko stood outside the café, his legs shaking as he gripped his laptop bag tighter to his chest. He'd absolutely failed in his last interaction with Iroha, and, while he'd usually take an event such as that to avoid ever seeing someone ever again, Iroha was different. He couldn't get her out of his head. He had no idea how to go about her, though. The choices he'd have to make to set off her flags weren't as clear as they were for tsundere characters like Neru. It was impossible to know how he was supposed to go about this. So, in the end, he'd wound up here once again with no game plan, but, in the end, he knew one thing for sure: for Iroha, he was willing to be a better man and move on from his past of maid cafés and video games. Yes, for Iroha, he'd forgive anything, and he'd move past the life he'd had before.

"Master," came a voice from behind him. Piko jumped and spun around, having been so caught up in his thoughts that even the familiar sound of Neru's voice left him absolutely terrified. Neru was scowling, sunk into one hip, and she informed him, "You haven't been by in a few days." Then, she whipped her head to the side, scowling deeper and refusing to look at him. "Not that I was worried about you or anything, stupid." Then, she shyly peeked at him from the corner of her eye. "But where have you been?"

Piko's heart raced. Neru was absolutely perfect. She was all he'd ever dreamed of in a tsundere. Luckily, he'd grown close enough to the girl that he didn't have the same trouble speaking to her as he did most people, so he was able to apologize, "I haven't been feeling well lately, so I've been resting at home."

"Don't you go dying on us, Master," came another voice behind him, and he turned with a smile to Luka's grin. He'd used to have problems keeping his eyes off her chest, not that she'd ever complained, but he was proud to say that he was much better at it now. He could last a whole thirty seconds without needing to glance down. "It'll just crush poor little Iroha. She's already going on about how she's 'cursed, meow'!" Luka curled her hands up like paws and did a gentle bop with the last syllable. Piko went bright red at this action, but not from Luka. He was busy imagining the sweet, timid Iroha doing the same with reddened cheeks.

"Will you be sitting in my section today, Master, or Iroha's?" Neru asked, her eyes sparking with something Piko couldn't quite recognize as she scowled. "Not that I really care where you sit, but I need to know if I'll have to deal with another set of new customers instead."

Piko went bright red and bowed his head in embarrassment, mumbling, "I've been playing a lot of cat-girl games the past few days, so I think Iroha's a better fit for my current interests."

"Fine, whatever," snapped Neru, glaring at him and brushing past Luka to enter the café. "See if I care."

Piko followed her with his gaze, shocked and flattered. Did he really mean so much to her? That definitely made him happy. Did she maybe have actually feelings for him? Well, he wasn't interested in her that way, but he wouldn't mind giving it a chance. Though that would ruin anything he might have had going with Iroha.

"You tip better than most, and you don't constantly ask her to do weird things," Luka informed him, wrapping an arm around his shoulders and guiding him confidently inside. "Don't worry about this one time. Just be sure you keep visiting her, or you might stop being her favourite."

Piko couldn't help but smile. He was Neru's favourite. He completely ignored the part about tipping. However, at one sentence, his attention turned completely from Neru, and the little bit of confidence he'd developed in that moment vanished.

"Welcome home, Meowster!"

Cat ears twitching excitedly, Iroha leaned forward, allowing a small gap between the front of her shirt and her skin for Piko to glance down. She'd been waiting right at the entrance, and she was smiling so sweetly that Piko could hardly stand it. As it was, he might have fallen down if it weren't for Luka's arm around him.

"Neru-nee came and told me that you wanted me to serve you today, Meowster, and I was so excited that I had to come wait for you!" She looked so genuinely overjoyed and eager that Piko couldn't tell if she was really just doing her job or had actually wanted to see him. "You're my first repeat customer, so I hope we can have a great relationship together, Meowster!"

"Y-You can just call me Piko," he mumbled, gazing shyly away. There was no way he could look her straight in the eye when she was speaking so kindly to him like this. It was far too stimulating.

He glanced up to see Iroha gazing at Luka with a question in her eyes, probably wondering if it was okay to go against protocol in such a way, and by the time Piko acknowledged that Luka was walking away, Iroha was already onto saying, "Alright, Piko, let's go get you a seat!"

"Y-Yeah!" Piko knew he'd probably agreed to aggressively, but it was too late to take it back, so he gave in and followed after his waitress.

And barely managed a single word aside from an order after that.

. . .

This time, Piko had planned it out. One of the activities offered at the café was alone time with your favourite maid where you could sit and eat together as though on a date. He'd brought his laptop again; he'd meant to show her something last time but had grown too nervous to.

"Wow, Piko, that's amazing!" she exclaimed, leaning over him to get a better look at the computer screen. They'd already been sitting so close that their bare arms had brushed four times, but, this time, the skirt of her dress threw itself across his lap, and her ponytail dragged itself from behind her back in order to rest on Piko's arm, bringing with it the sharp scent of strawberries that came with the perfume Iroha always wore. She turned her eyes excitedly onto him and wondered, "Are you the one who drew this?" Piko nodded, overjoyed that she wasn't creeped out or anything, and had to look down in embarrassment from her huge smile. "That's amazing! Could I have a copy?"

Piko's eyes widened at the request and stumbled though his words. "W-well it's not quite finished left, but I guess I could print a copy off for you when it's done."

"Wow, Neru looks so perfect!" Iroha continued fawning as Piko cast a critical eye on his own work once more. "Haha, look at Luka and Yuki! They're so cute!"

For the past week since he'd met Iroha, Piko had taken to using his tablet to create a picture for his computer desktop. It had started off being merely Iroha in the style of a character from one of the games he played, but he'd been so pleased with the work that he wanted to show her, so he'd added the other girls from the café around her. They were all sitting together at the gaming station of the café, and Piko had done his best to represent their maid-type in their stances.

"Hey, why don't we play a game?" Iroha wondered excitedly, looking eagerly to Piko. "I still haven't had anyone to play against. I'm probably not any good, but I'm sure we could still have fun!"

Roses bloomed in Piko's cheeks, and he nodded, though he regretted to inform Iroha, "I hold the high score here, though, and I won't go easy on you."

Iroha laughed and chirped, "It'd be no fun if you did!" as she hopped out of the booth and offered a hand to Piko. "Let's go play, Piko!"

Piko accepted to proffered hand with a grin, prepared to impress Iroha. He'd never lost a game before, and he wasn't about to now.

. . .

"Piko, are you going to sit in my section again today?" Iroha wondered with a smile as Piko entered the café. She flinched the instant he looked to her. He was glaring harshly at her, dark rings under her eyes. He hadn't slept all night. Not since yesterday, in that horrible, humiliating moment.

"I'll sit in Neru's section," he declared, not even caring at the sadness in her gaze of the way her cat ears drooped.

"Oh," she mumbled, letting her disappointment show for one more moment before she smiled widely once more. "Maybe next time, Piko!"

"Master," he correctly coldly. Iroha tilted her head to the side with an innocent cuteness that Piko would have previously swooned for. "Call me Master."

"O-okay," she stammered, completely adorably confused. Piko might have loved that yesterday, but it filled him with annoyance today and forever would. "I'll fetch Neru for you, M-Meowster."

"Thanks." He didn't even look at her.

From that day on, Piko returned to regularly sitting in Neru's section, for Iroha had done something he could never forgive her for, no matter how much he'd liked her before. She'd meant so much to him, but after something so heinous, so horrendous, there was no way he could ever forgive her, so his feelings for her had entirely vanished.

After all, she'd beaten his high score.

**Author's Note: Piko's affections were very short-lived :P And is it bad that I can see this happening with my boyfriend? Anyway, I hope everyone enjoyed the story! Thanks for reading!**


End file.
